Gunfire from multiple weapons echoed through the halls of the Hazleton Elementary/Middle School during a drill Friday morning.

First nearby, then farther away.

Screams followed.

Next came panicked footsteps as role-players sought cover or a place to hide. Finding locked doors, some ducked into alcoves, one crouched under a porcelain water fountain and others kept running away from the shots.

Teachers locked classrooms, barricaded doors, stayed out of sight and crafted makeshift weapons should the shooters come to their door next.

The odor of gunpowder lingered as police stormed the halls, weapons drawn, with one goal - find the shooters.

Hazleton Area School District staff along with police from throughout the region ran the scenario again and again as a part of the day-long training exercise simulating a school massacre.

Hazleton police Chief Frank DeAndrea, who coordinated the exercise, explained that we prepare for fires with alarms and drills and teach children to "stop, drop and roll," but do nothing to prepare for an equally frightening scenario of a gunman entering a school.

This training, which DeAndrea sees as the first in a series, allowed about 300 district staff to experience what a shooting inside a school would be like, and gave them an opportunity to prepare themselves and learn how to protect the children in their care until police arrive.

Staff from Hazleton, Arthur Street, Heights-Terrace and West Hazleton schools took part in the exercise on the Act 80 day, in which classes aren't in session.

Some volunteered to be role-players trapped in the halls with the gunmen. Most, though, remained in classrooms as the first shots shattered the silence and reverberated down the halls of the 87-year-old, fortress-like school known as the Castle.

Jocelyn Podlesney, principal at West Hazleton, watched a man jump with the sound of gunfire and immediately got chills and felt her adrenaline rise, she said. Her next thought was how to keep a room full of children calm and safe, she said.

"My job is to keep everyone safe," Podlesney said. "I'm so proud to take part in this. School isn't just reading, writing and math. We need to equip our children with the tools they need."

Police fired live rounds from multiple weapons, including a .44 caliber handgun, a tactical shotgun, an assault rifle and .308 sniper rifle, into a clearing barrel in four different areas of the school to allow educators to hear the shots at different distances.

DeAndrea explained that a teacher in the back of the school may not hear shots being fired in another area of the building when the school goes on lockdown and may not know a gunman is roaming the halls.

Daniel DeNoia, vice principal at the Castle, described the gunfire inside his school as "alarming" and "an overwhelming sound," but said it also made him think about the educators who lived through massacres and those who died.

"We hope our children are always safe and we remember those who lost their lives in school shootings, too," he said. "We need to be prepared. We as educators have to step up in front along with police agencies to teach our children, so, God forbid, we would know how to react and save our children."

DeAndrea said teachers must instruct their students how to block doors and hide until the threat is gone, but be also prepared to fight or escape should a shooter enter the room.

A fire extinguisher, a book or even a laptop can become a weapon as a teacher tries to protect the students if there is no way to escape the mayhem, he said. A class of 25 could stop the shooter as well, DeAndrea said, because the gunman can't shoot all of them.

"In this type of situation, we must be prepared to fight back," he said. "It's going to be all or nothing."

These so-called school shooters don't take hostages and only want to add to their body count, the chief said. The barrage doesn't end until police arrive and the shooter surrenders, commits suicide or is stopped by officers, said DeAndrea, who has studied some 175 shootings at schools since 1966.

Podlesney said she believes this training will save lives should the district ever be faced with a shooter situation, because they've learned what to do to slow down the bad guys and give the police a chance to reach them.

Carinne Karlick, a sixth-grade teacher at the Castle, was among the role-players, running through the school's long halls in search of safety as shots - these blanks - were being fired.

"Seeing the police run in made me feel better," she said.

Karlick learned a lot from the experience, she said.

"As a teacher, it's terrifying when you see it happening in schools in other states," she said. "This should be done every year."

Different groups of officers took turns entering the school, clearing classrooms and searching for the shooters, as they ran the exercise again and again. They approached the school in police and personal vehicles as they responded - just as they would if a shooter was threatening a school.

DeAndrea explained that not only would on-duty officers in the city respond, but officers from throughout the area would come to assist. Working together in a training exercise such as this gives them a feel for what they could expect, he said.

Officers from Hazleton, West Hazleton, Beaver Meadows, White Haven, Freeland, and Butler, Sugarloaf and Kline townships, in addition to the Luzerne County Sheriff's Department and county detectives, all participated in the exercise, he said.

DeAndrea hopes to hold similar training at other district schools in the future.

kmonitz@standardspeaker.com

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